District Court.

Feilding Star, Volume XV, Issue 293, 20 April 1894, Page 2

District Court.

PALMERSTON— THUESDAY. (Before His Honor District Judge Kettle.) IN BANKRUPTCY. In re J. C. Morey, public examination. Mr J. H. Han kins appeared for the D.0.A., and Mr Baker for bankrupt. The bankrupt:, on oath, " said lie had recently been carrying oh " business as a draper in Peilding. .fie,. V; commenced business on his .oW-n*ao- : ' '; -Ti count in March 1893 without capi- '"■' tal. He filed in January 1894. He told hie creditors that the total amount of his liabilities, not including the* mortgage to the Building Society, was £1179 He found afterwards that he bad under estimated bis liabilities. He valued biß stock at £850, bat he had only guessed at the value, shortly after the meeting in January he borrowed £60 from Messrs Rateliff Bros , and assigned the book debts to them by deed. About * this time he also borrowed £9 from Mr Goodbehere and gava him an order on ' Ratcliff Bros On the 9th of January he ' - stopped paying into the bank because he : had to meet a P.N. of £125, due on bankrupt stock purchased from the T> 0.A., Wanganui. The purchase was effected in October, 1893. The P.N. was endorsed " by his wife and Mrs Oliver, of Feilding. '-, He paid Mrs Oliver £100 to release her from her endorsement. He kept no entries for the payments made to Mrs Oliver, but she had a slip of paper showing the different payments as they were made. He paid £11 l£s due to his brother in-law on the 9th January., for goods purchased from the Union Clothing Company. This sum was paid through tbe bank, and he then withdrew bis balance of £2 5s 2d and closed his bank account. In January he {paid small accounts amounting to about £28 17s Bd. . After he closed his bank account he kept V no statement of receipts and expenditure. '' *" He was too ill to do so He he'd an auction sale of goods in Feilding tri the 9th December, 1893 The sale was c^n- , ducted by Mr Carr, and it realised £61 6s lid On the 18th be held a second sale at Halcombe, but he did noi know how much n realised. A third auction sale on the 23rd December realised £81 8s 6d. Mr Carr conducted all these sales. In December he held a sale at Birmingham which was conducted by Messrs Stevens and Gorton. He did not know how much was realised. Another sale held at Halcombe realised £36 2s 4d. He usually got advances from the auctioneer before the sales. Tie money realised at the sales which was not paid' into the bank, was used to pay tin til < accounts and to pay the account due to Mrs Oliver The cash.book (produced) was that used for Messrs Paul and (Jo's business There was a large number of leaves cut out which had contained entries made on behalf of Messrs Paul and Co. Tbe bill book did not contain a record of all the bills given. He tore up all the butts of his cheque books as soon as the books were used. He told Messrs Cook and Gray that the butts might be found in the 6tore. He destroyed the butts because he did not think they. were of any use. He could not give any information about a cheque of £20 drawn to '• change " on the 17th September. In reply to Mr Baker, bankrupt said he put the book debts in the hands of Messrs Ratcliff Bros, and obtained £50 from them to pay some pressing debts; The deficiency in tbe estate was £452. £500 worth of the stock had been sold by auction with the result that it only realised 13s 7d in the £. He lost about | £140 on the purchase of Messrs Paul and j Co.'s book debts. He kept an account i in the ledger of all monies received and I paid between tbe date of his last meeting I of creditors and the date of his bank* ruptcy. He could calculate from his ledger that his cash takings after he closed his bank account were not more than £30. Tbe whole of the properties owned by him had been handed over to the creditors, and his wife had agreed to band over her property for the benefit of her and her husband's creditors. His j creditors were informed that he had not i made out stock sheets. He thought at I the time he was giving a true state of his liabilities and it was not until afterwards that he discovered he had not inoluded some £300 te> £400. He told his principal creditors that he had not consulted his local creditors. To bis Honor : While he carried on the business for Messrs I'aul and Co he received £-1 5s per week as salary and 10 per cent on cash sales. He attributed his position to the falling off of trade consequent on bad turns. He kept a counter, book, daybook, cash-book and ledger while managing the business for Messrs Paul and Co. He paid current accounts out of cash and forwarded tbe balance to the firm by cheque every Mondaymorn. ing. During the time he was in the •mploy of Messrs Paul and Co. the cash books were never examined, but the ledger v.'as gone through every year by an employee from .tbe firm's head business establishment. He had torn up the cash books because he thought they were use* less. Jle entered his cash gales on slips of paper, and at the end of tbe week entered them into the cash book. Durs ing the short time he kept a cash book for himself he did not enter all his cash transactions. He did not continue keeping his cash book because he thought it too much trouble when he was ill. He closed his books alto/tether after the meet* ing of creditors because he understood he was not expected to do so. His hoalth would not allow him to keep an account of his daily transactions, His private drawings were not shown, but he knew he drew about £4 5s per week. He had lost a little money outside his business. Mr Baker objected to questions being asked which might tend to criminate the bankrupt. His Honor ruled that the bankrupt must answer, or refuse of his own accord, aßd in answer to further questions the ■> bankrupt said he sometimes* speculated a pound or two on tbe totalisator. He had sometimes plajed cards, but he did not know whether he had lost any money or not. He thought he might have won a little. This concluded the examination and his Honor declared it closed —Standard.